OAHU COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER: SITING STUDY UPDATE REPORT RELEASED

News Release from PSD, June 21, 2017

HONOLULU – The Hawaii Department of Public Safety (PSD) is proposing to replace the current Oahu Community Correctional Center (OCCC) with a modern facility that provides a safe, secure, and humane environment for the care and custody of adult offenders originating from the County of Oahu. Over the past year, various studies have been performed and others are currently underway to determine the nature, scale, location, and range of costs associated with developing a new OCCC.

In January 2017, PSD consultants completed their Siting Study report which evaluated 11 prospective sites for possible OCCC use, assessed the 11 sites, and scored and ranked each based on well-defined siting criteria. On February 1, 2017, the four highest ranked sites (Animal Quarantine Facility site, existing OCCC site, Halawa Correctional Facility site, and Mililani Technology Park site) were selected for evaluation in the form of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and seven sites were eliminated from consideration.

To ensure that no site suitable for OCCC development has been overlooked, the OCCC Team continued to seek out potential sites in the event others more suitable than the four selected could be made available. In doing so the Team reissued its Site Offer Form – 2017 in February 2017 to Oahu’s real estate community seeking information about other properties listed or under consideration for sale. The form was also reissued with the minimum site size reduced from the original 10 acres to one acre to ensure all sites receive equal consideration.

In April 2017, the OCCC Team was contacted about a property currently being marketed for sale as a possible OCCC development site. Two parcels, comprising 9.585-acres and known as the Campbell Industrial Park site, are located at 91-150 Hanua Street in Kapolei, HI. The OCCC Team has completed its evaluation of this 12th site; with a point score of 43.5 (of 100 possible points), the Campbell Industrial Park Site is ranked 8th among the 12 total sites. The addition of the Campbell Industrial Park does not change the ranking of the four highest ranked sites which are continuing through the EIS process.

Since February 2017, the OCCC Team has also examined additional sites recommended by the public, elected officials, and others to ensure no prospective sites, equal to or more suitable than the four currently under consideration, were overlooked. The results of these efforts are also described in the Siting Study Update report which is on the OCCC website along with other OCCC project-related information: http://dps.hawaii.gov/occc-future-plans. At this time, PSD is concluding their active search for additional sites and will continue to focus their efforts on the EIS.

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